


what are you doing new year's eve?

by andtimestoodstill



Series: Holiday Kisses [2]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: M/M, Missed Connection, New Year's Eve, Sort Of, domestic af pynch after one (1) week of dating, henry cheng is confused, i might not know what that means, i wrote 51k words so i can do what i want, noah czerny is also confused, sequel to 'kiss you on this cold december night', the author has an unhealthy relationship with italics, the nye noah/henry fic only one person asked for but i wrote anyway, wrong numbers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22048678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andtimestoodstill/pseuds/andtimestoodstill
Summary: Henry Cheng was confused. A week ago, at a gorgeous old colonial in the historic part of Georgetown, had met an even more gorgeous man. His neighbor, the freckled and charming Adam Parrish, had introduced him to Noah Czerny, the tall, pale, and handsome artist who was the good friend of Adam’s date, Ronan Lynch.Noah and Henry had spent the evening together; talking and laughing, Henry desperately begging Noah with his eyes to just kiss him already.In the end, Noah hadn’t kissed him. But he had given Henry his number, cheeks flushed, asking Henry to text him. Henry had enthusiastically agreed, Noah ducking in to press a lingering kiss to Henry’s cheek before getting on his motorcycle—a motorcycle, Henry was stupidly turned on—and riding off into the night. Or, well, early morning.(In which Henry and Noah are confused)(And so is the author as to whether or not anyone wanted this)
Relationships: Jordan/Declan Lynch, Noah Czerny/Henry Cheng, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish, blink and you'll miss it bluesy
Series: Holiday Kisses [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1587037
Comments: 7
Kudos: 122





	what are you doing new year's eve?

Henry Cheng was confused. A week ago, at a gorgeous old colonial in the historic part of Georgetown, had met an even more gorgeous man. His neighbor, the freckled and charming Adam Parrish, had introduced him to Noah Czerny, the tall, pale, and handsome artist who was the good friend of Adam’s date, Ronan Lynch.

Noah and Henry had spent the evening together; talking and laughing, Henry desperately begging Noah with his eyes to _just kiss him already_.

In the end, Noah hadn’t kissed him. But he had given Henry his number, cheeks flushed, asking Henry to text him. Henry had enthusiastically agreed, Noah ducking in to press a lingering kiss to Henry’s cheek before getting on his motorcycle—a _motorcycle_ , Henry was stupidly turned on—and riding off into the night. Or, well, early morning. It was almost one AM.

On his way back into the house, to say goodbye to the hosts of the party, Henry stumbled across his neighbor and his objectively terrifying date, making out against a shark-like BMW parked in front of the house.

Henry must have made a noise of surprise at finding the two of them canoodling, because Adam and Ronan pulled apart. The former looking startled, the latter looking annoyed by Henry’s presence.

“Oh, hello, Henry,” Adam said, flushing. Adam tried to step out of Ronan’s embrace, but he didn’t let go.

“Don’t mind me, boys. I’m just heading inside.” Henry started back up the walk, Adam’s response stopping him in his tracks.

“Wait!” Henry turned back. Adam had gotten a little space between him and Ronan, but they were still holding hands. “Did you and Noah have a good evening?” Adam asked, smiling like he already knew the answer.

Henry nodded, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “We did. Thank you for introducing us.”

“I still don’t get how you knew he was an artist,” Ronan said, trying to regain Adam’s full attention.

“Tomorrow.” Adam pressed a kiss to the corner of his jaw.

“It _is_ tomorrow,” Ronan mumbled. Adam just gave Ronan a look that Henry couldn’t see, but the taller man just sighed and relaxed back against the car, still holding Adam’s hand.

Adam turned back to Henry. “I’m glad. Anyway,” he jerked his head towards the car they were previously making out against. “We were about to head to my place; you want a ride?”

As much as Henry didn’t want a front row—well, more accurately, a back seat—view of the sexual tension that was barely simmering beneath the surface between them, he wasn’t going to turn down a free ride home.

“That would be great, thank you. I’m going to go quickly say goodbye,” Henry gestured toward the house.

“Okay, we’ll be out here,” Ronan said, tugging Adam back towards him. His neighbor’s laugh carried over to Henry as he turned back towards the house and walked inside.

The ride back to the Waterfront was not quite as awkward as Henry had imagined. For one, there were two dogs to occupy Henry’s attention. Henry had assumed the dogs belonged to Gansey and Blue, but apparently one was Adam’s ex-girlfriend’s and the other was Ronan’s new puppy. He also learned that this was Adam and Ronan’s _first_ date, which was so flabbergasting that it literally left Henry speechless for the rest of the car ride. They just seemed so comfortable together, there wasn’t even a little bit of that first-date weirdness about them.

He might have been a little jealous of their chemistry, perhaps. But Noah—

Well, Henry felt unexpectedly comfortable with Noah as well.

Maybe it was the magic of Christmas.

“I’m just going to drop you off here,” Ronan said, looking at Henry in the rear-view mirror. He had pulled into a loading zone just outside his apartment. “So you don’t have to walk back in the cold.”

“What about me?” Adam teased.

“You’re stuck with me,” Ronan replied. Adam laughed lowly before leaning over the center console to kiss Ronan.

“Well,” Henry said, the two men in the front seat still kissing. “Thanks for the ride, merry Christmas.”

He opened the door and was ready to crawl out when Adam pulled away from Ronan, the latter squawking indignantly at the affront. “Merry Christmas, Henry!”

Henry laughed and climbed out of the car, waving the BMW off. There was actually a few close parking spots, but he was pretty sure that they cared more about getting some alone time inside the BMW than making Henry walk, at most, a block and a half back to his apartment in the cold.

Not that Henry blamed them, it was a beautiful car.

With a sigh, Henry started up the eight flights of stairs, cursing the superintendent. Once he was on his floor and in his apartment, Henry finally pulled out his phone and stared down at the text he had drafted on the car ride home.

 _Hey Noah! It’s Henry! I really enjoyed spending the evening with you_ 😊

Henry groaned, kicking off his shoes, tugging off his jacket, and flopping listlessly on to his couch. He really liked Noah, and he was pretty sure that Noah liked him back, but Henry didn’t want to give Noah any reason to think he was a total loser.

It had just been a while. A really long while since he had felt _anything_ for _anyone_. There had been a spark of instant interest in Noah, he was objectively handsome, and Adam had not even bothered to pretend that what he was doing was setting them up. But once they got to talking, Henry wanted to spend the rest of the night with him.

And they had; Noah never leaving his side.

So the text was the truth, but it was kind of lame and obvious. Though, Henry didn’t want to play games, either. He didn’t want Noah to have to wonder what Henry was thinking; but there had to be a better way to do that than the stupid text he had written.

Henry deleted the message, trying again.

_Hey Noah, this is Henry. I had a great time tonight, and I wondered if you wanted to do that again sometime soon. Perhaps tomorrow night?_

Before he could overthink it, Henry sent the message, locked his phone, and got ready for bed. He purposefully did not check his phone again until he was in bed, down comforter pulled up to his chin, pulling his phone as close to him as his charging cord would allow.

Noah had not texted him back, but Henry didn’t feel too worried. He had said he was tired, so Henry assumed Noah was already asleep.

Henry decided to follow Noah’s lead, and succumb to sleep himself; hoping that there would be a response in the morning.

There hadn’t been a response in the morning. Or later that afternoon. Or even the next day.

Henry stared at the thread, one lonely blue bubble, for hours on end, waiting for some kind of sign that Noah had at least seen the message. He wasn’t sure if Noah had read receipts on, but there was no indication that the text had been opened and ignored rather than not seen at all.

At first, Henry was inconsolable; wandering around his apartment, jumping at every chime from his phone. Then he was worried, what if something had happened to him? Henry had scoured the news, but there were no reports of hot artists getting into catastrophic motorcycle accidents since Christmas Eve.

Then Henry was annoyed, he was pretty sure he had been ghosted. Left out to dry. Ignored.

But Henry didn’t believe that was what was happening here. He wasn’t an expert, but Noah had seemed to be genuinely interested in him. Had spent just as much time glancing at Henry’s lips as Henry had been glancing at Noah’s.

Maybe the text was a little too upfront; moving too fast, too soon. Henry could handle going slow, taking his time getting to know Noah; but he just wanted to make his intentions known. If it had scared Noah off, Henry was willing to dial it back, to take it at his pace.

As long as they got to do it together.

So, on late in the evening on the 29th, Henry sent another text:

 _Hey, I’m sorry if I came on a little too strong. I’d still love to see you again soon; we can do whatever you’re up for_ 😊

This time he kept the emoji and sent the text off. Henry climbed into bed and fell into a dreamless sleep, just hoping he would wake up to a response.

He hadn’t. Woken up to a response, that is. The text had gone maybe unread and definitely unanswered.

Henry meandered around his apartment all day, wandering from room to room, looking for something to occupy his attention so that he wasn’t thinking of the two blue bubbles haunting him from his phone.

It got to a point, around dinner time, that Henry couldn’t handle it anymore. He had circled back to annoyed, perhaps even upset, that Noah hadn’t texted him back. In a flash of madness, Henry stomped out of his apartment and knocked angrily on Adam’s door.

However, it wasn’t his sandy haired neighbor who answered, but instead a shirtless Ronan Lynch.

“Oh!” Henry exclaimed, startled by the expanse of pale skin and _were those hickeys?_ he thought. Didn’t Ronan work with teenagers? You’d think he’d know better. “Ronan!” Chainsaw came running up to the door, but she didn’t try to make a break for the hall; she just sat at Ronan’s feet, staring up at her dad.

It was too cute to deal with right now. He looked back up at Ronan’s face.

“Henry,” Ronan said in greeting, looking at Henry like he was the one standing there, half-naked. “You’re not Adam.” Henry just looked at him in confusion. “He went downstairs to get our food, I thought he might have needed a hand with the door.”

The surprise of seeing a shirtless Ronan Lynch had worn off, and Henry was back to being annoyed. “Well, I’m not. Adam that is,” he said with as much ire as he could muster. Ronan, despite being shirtless and rumpled, was still terrifying to behold.

“I can see that.” Ronan regarded him carefully. “Is there something you need? Because Parrish obviously isn’t here. Though, I’m not sure if I’m allowed to loan out a cup of sugar if you need some cliché neighborly bullshit.”

Henry crossed his arms across his chest, staring Ronan down. “I want to know why Noah won't text me back.”

“Czerny won't text you back?” he asked, one dark eyebrow rising. “That dude is like fucking glued to his phone—and that’s not helping is it?”

“Absolutely not,” Henry sputtered out. He was starting to feel much less angry and now much more ashamed.

“Look, maybe something happened to his phone. He knows better than to text me unless he is in immediate peril.”

Henry paused, thinking about the probability of this statement. “So you haven’t spoken to him since Christmas Eve?”

“Well, ah,” Ronan blushed. “No. I’ve been a little pre-occupied.”

Just then, the elevator _ding_ -ed and Adam stepped out, a paper bag balanced in his arms. Henry knew that he was thing Ronan had been so preoccupied with over the past few days. Henry had seen the BMW parked outside his building pretty much every day since Christmas. He wondered if Ronan ever left.

“Henry! Hello,” Adam said. He passed Ronan the bag of food, it smelled like Indian. “Would you like to join us for dinner? We ordered way too much food.”

“Oh, no. That’s alright. I was just going.”

“He’ll be at my brother’s New Year’s Eve party,” Ronan said, suddenly.

“What?” Henry said, brows furrowing together.

“Who?” Adam said, looking between the two of them.

“Czerny,” Ronan replied. “He’ll be at my brother’s New Year’s Eve party tomorrow. You should come.”

“Oh, well. I’d hate to impose—”

“No, you should come!” Adam replied brightly. “Wait,” he looked between them again, nose wrinkling in thought. “Did something happen between you and Noah?”

“He won't reply to Henry’s texts,” Ronan said off-handedly; Henry squawked indignantly. “Oh, sorry.”

“Really?” Adam asked. “I thought—”

“Well I thought, too.” Henry cut in, not wanting to hear what Adam had to say about Noah. Not now when he was so sensitive.

“Come to the party,” Ronan said at last. “That is, if you don’t have other plans.”

Henry didn’t have other plans, just a week ago he thought he’d be kissing a handsome blond at midnight—

“Sure. I’d like that.”

Ronan gave him the address and Henry left them to their dinner.

The next evening Henry, dressed to the nines, walked the three blocks to Declan Lynch’s apartment, hands tucked into the pockets of his wool peacoat against the cold. He spent quite a long time, far more time than he was willing to admit, on his hair; trying to get the perfect swoop of black across his forehead.

Henry was going to show Noah Czerny that he made a grave error in not responding to his texts. A grave error indeed.

Declan and Jordan lived in a stately apartment building just off of Delaware Ave. He pressed the button for Declan’s apartment and was buzzed up right away.

The party was in full swing when he arrived, a crowd of unfamiliar faces. “Henry!” Jordan cheered, bright-faced and sparkling. Literally sparkling, she was covered in glitter. “So glad you could make it!”

“Thanks for having me. I brought something for you and Declan.” Henry handed over the bag hanging on his wrist.

“Ooh,” Jordan took the bag, pulling out one of the three jars of wildflower honey Henry had brought with him. “How cute, it’s got your name on it!” Jordan smiled up at Henry. “Where’d you find this?”

“It’s my company,” Henry explained.

“Oh my god!” she looked between him and the jar in her hands for a few seconds. “Henry!” Jordan put the honey back in the bag, shock plainly written across her face. “That’s incredible. C’mon,” she beckoned Henry with a hand, leading him towards the kitchen. “I want to make sure this gets in the cupboard before someone thinks they can walk away with it.”

The kitchen was a mess of snacks and liquor. There was a handwritten note taped to the fridge with a list of mixers and an instruction to _put the goddamn mixers back in the fridge, Ronan_.

“Is he and his new beau here yet?” Henry asked, pointing to the paper.

Jordan turned away from the cupboard, saw the sign, and laughed. “They were here, but we ran out of ice, so Declan sent them out to get more.” She tucked the last of the honey away and closed the cupboard door. “They are disgustingly domestic, aren’t they?”

“I went by Adam’s place yesterday and Ronan was just hanging around half-naked when I knocked on the door.”

Jordan laughed fondly. “You want a drink?” she asked. Henry nodded, and Jordan set to pouring and mixing. “I’m so happy for him. Ronan’s had a rough year,” she sighed. “It’s so nice to see him smiling again.” With a dash of grenadine, the drinks were done. She handed one cup to Henry. “Now, there are a couple of people I think you should meet.”

“Wait,” Henry said before Jordan could drag him away. “Is, uh,” he trailed off, feeling like a teenager with a pathetic crush on a kid from his Chemistry class. “Is Noah here?”

Henry tried to play it cool. Tried to say Noah’s name like he hadn’t been thinking about him non-stop since Christmas Eve.

“Oh!” for Jordan’s part, she played it pretty cool in return, despite being on the drunk side of tipsy. “Yeah, he was skulking in the corner last I saw.” Her mouth twisted into a frown, regarding Henry carefully. “Didn’t—”

Before Jordan could finish her thought, Henry cut her off. “I’m going to go find him, thanks for the drink!”

Like the besotted coward he was, Henry ducked out of the kitchen and into the spacious living room. It seemed as if Ronan and Adam had returned, bags of ice in their hands. They greeted Henry as they passed, but he barely heard them, finally finding Noah across the room.

Jordan was right, Noah _was_ sulking, and he _was_ in a corner. What Jordan had not mentioned was that when Noah sulked, he was still _hot_.

Henry took a long sip of his drink—Jordan, bless her, did not go light on the tequila—before marching up to the beautiful, scowling, Noah Czerny and said what he had been thinking of saying to him all week long.

“Hi.”

Noah looked up from his shoes, his expression turned surprised, then hopeful, and at last, settled on cool indifference.

“Hi, Henry,” he said at last before turning and stalking off.

***

Noah Czerny was confused. A week ago, a man he briefly met when he had fallen in a Macy’s on Christmas Eve introduced him to the incredible Henry Cheng in the crowded living room of Gansey and Blue’s historic colonial in Georgetown.

They had spent the evening together, connecting in a way Noah hadn’t connected with a person in _years_. There was a spark between them; an _undeniable_ spark between them. Noah desperately wanted to kiss Henry, and he was pretty sure that Henry would be receptive if his wandering gaze towards Noah’s lips were any indication.

But Noah was also _terrified_ to kiss Henry. He didn’t want to fall victim to all the Christmas magic whirling around them, no matter how much of their connection had felt _real_. Noah wanted to see Henry again, so maybe it was better to leave him wanting more.

And hell, Noah may have been a little over-cautious when it came to love, but you couldn’t blame him. Getting almost murdered by your jealous ex-boyfriend will do that to a guy.

It had been _years_ since Whelk, Noah had even had positive and fulfilling relationships since then. But he believed those successes came from his precautions early on in new relationships. And Henry seemed like an amazing guy, the kind of guy who would be totally okay with taking things slow.

So, when it was time for Noah to go, just a little before one AM on Christmas morning, he gave Henry his number and kiss on the cheek, and he drove off into the night.

He had hoped that by the time he got home, Henry would have texted him, but he had no new messages. It wasn’t the end of the world; it was late and perhaps Henry wanted to wait until he was home before texting Noah.

Noah went to bed, and he definitely didn’t turn the volume up loud enough on his phone just so he wouldn’t miss Henry’s text, because that would be lame.

In the morning, there still wasn’t a text from Henry; the thought nagging at the back of his mind while he started on Christmas breakfast for his family who were due any minute—

The doorbell rang, alerting Noah to his parents and little sisters waiting outside for him. He quickly buzzed them up before rushing back to the stove to make sure the bacon didn’t burn.

Once his family was inside, and Christmas greetings were shared, Noah was preoccupied with breakfast and presents and spending time with his family. That didn’t mean that Noah didn’t check his phone every few minutes, waiting for a text.

He cursed himself for not getting Henry’s number in return. Though, now that Henry was ghosting him, maybe it was for the best—

“Noah, honey. Are you okay?” his mother asked, her pale eyebrows drawing together in concern. “Do you not like the sweater? I still have the receipt—”

“Oh, no, Ma. I love it.” He did like the sweater, a soft sage green cashmere. “I’m sorry, I’m just tired.”

“You don’t look tired,” Lizzie said. She wasn’t even looking at Noah, digging through her stocking looking for the candies at the bottom, so what did she know?

“It’s nothing. Who wants coffee?”

Coffee was the one true love of Czerny family, so Noah slipped away with the coffee order fresh on his mind. As the pot was brewing, he fiddled with his phone. There wasn’t much he could do now but wait.

Well, he could text Ronan. But then Ronan would have to ask Adam and then Adam would have to ask Henry why he wasn’t texting Noah. That felt a little too high school, a little too much like he was trying pass Henry one of those notes that said _do you like me yes or no?_ in third period Algebra.

Noah wasn’t going to do that, wasn’t going to show his hand quite so soon. And in the meantime, he was going to enjoy the holidays with his family.

Though, six days later, when he was waiting for the elevator to take him upstairs to the Ronan’s apartment for Declan and Jordan’s New Year’s Eve party, Noah was still annoyed that Henry still hadn’t texted him.

At this point, Noah had pretty much given up on Henry _ever_ texting him.

The elevator arrived, and Noah took it to the top floor, stewing all the while. When the doors slid open again, Noah tried to school his expression into something less unhappy and little more festive.

The door was unlocked, so Noah let himself inside the apartment. He wasn’t the first guest to arrive, but he was close to it. Despite how early it was in the evening, people were well on their way to drunk. He wandered off towards the kitchen, finding Declan, Jordan, Ronan, and Adam were gathered, the couples smiling and intertwined.

Noah sighed; it was going to be a long night.

“Czerny!” Ronan cheered, seeing Noah hovering in the doorway.

“Hey guys,” Noah said, walking up to the island, pulling the Costco-sized bottle of vodka towards him.

“Here,” Declan passed him a shiny gold solo cup filled with ice. “There are mixers in the fridge.”

“Thanks,” Noah turned towards the fridge. There was a sign taped to one of the doors, reminding the partygoers to _put the goddamn mixers back in the fridge, Ronan_. Noah huffed out a laugh before pulling the fridge open and grabbing a carton of orange juice off the shelf.

While Noah made his drink, the Lynch brothers bickered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ronan said haughtily.

“You leave food out all the time,” Declan shot back. “Fucking _constantly_.” Ronan scoffed. “Well, I guess not in the last week, since you haven’t been here.”

Noah looked up to see Ronan flush and look away. “Fuck off, Declan.”

Adam, looking half as embarrassed as Ronan, pressed a kiss to the younger Lynch’s jaw. All at once, Noah couldn’t stand their smiling faces and love-struck expressions. He put the orange juice back into the fridge and stalked out of the kitchen.

“Czerny!” Ronan called after him, but Noah didn’t turn around.

He found an unoccupied corner to isolate himself in, watching the party from the sidelines. Chainsaw, Ronan’s new puppy, came by sniffing at Noah’s shoes before she ran off, looking for greener pastures. People were steadily streaming into the apartment, detouring to the kitchen for drinks before joining the masses in the spacious living room. Blue and Gansey arrived not long after Noah, the former giving Jordan a run for her money in terms of glitter; she was blinding even from across the room.

Noah quickly grew bored with people watching, getting a refill of his drink and sulking against the wall, eyes turned down towards his phone, watching the minutes tick by. There was a chance he was still holding out hope that Henry would text him; he was a romantic, so sue him.

It didn’t help that Noah had just watched _When Harry Met Sally_ that morning because his sisters obviously didn’t give a shit that he had no one to kiss at midnight this year. So maybe, the image of Billy Crystal running through the streets of New York was a little too fresh in his mind.

Not that Noah was asking for Henry to run through the streets of D.C. to find him, he was just wanted a _text_.

Noah was thinking about Meg Ryan’s hair when a pair of gorgeous cognac wingtips entered his line of vision. “Hi,” the owner of the wingtips said.

Noah’s head snapped up, eyes locking on Henry Cheng’s unnecessarily gorgeous face. His dark hair was perfectly coiffed, chocolate brown eyes sparkling, the gold brocade of his suit jacket was the brightest thing in the room.

He looked so good that it made Noah’s _heart_ hurt.

Noah felt the shame and confusion of the last week rush in all at once. After a moment, he schooled his face into indifference.

“Hi, Henry,” Noah said, before turning and stalking away.

Noah didn’t get far, Henry catching his arm. Noah tried to shake him off, but Henry’s tone when he said, “ _Noah_ ,” gave him pause.

He didn’t like that it gave him pause.

“What?” Noah snapped.

Henry looked taken aback. He dropped Noah’s arm. “Well, I guess that answers that,” he said, surveying the party. “I’ll go. Happy new year, Noah.”

Before Henry could walk away, Noah found himself asking “what’s your game plan here, Henry?”

His dark brows knit together in ire, which only infuriated Noah more; like he didn’t _know_ what he had done. “What are you talking about? You’re the one that didn’t text me back.”

Now that _really_ gave Noah pause.

“What?” he hated the way his voice came out, soft and hopeful.

Henry was still upset. “I texted you. _Twice_ , no response.” He pulled out his phone to show Noah two unanswered texts.

Noah took the phone—Henry squawked indignantly, but he let Noah take it—and clicked on the contact information, heart threatening to beat out of his chest. What he saw then confirmed his worst fears.

_Oh._

“Oh.” Noah couldn’t meet his eye. “I, um, didn’t get your messages.” He returned the phone to Henry.

“How?” Henry pocketed the phone.

“I may have given you the wrong number.” Henry’s brows drew even closer together. “Try calling me,” Noah held his phone up for Henry to see. After a moment, Henry complied. Noah’s phone remained static in his hand.

“Huh,” Henry said at last. He tucked his phone away. Noah waited with bated breath, blood rushing through his ears so loudly that he barely heard Henry’s breathy laugh. He didn’t miss it the second time, his chuckle a little louder, a little heartier. “Oh my _god_ , Noah.”

“I know,” Noah said miserably. One hand came up to scrub the back of his head. “In my defense, I’ve had a traumatic brain injury, so sometimes I get a little confused.” Henry blanched at that, dark brows drawing up towards his hairline. “God, I didn’t mean to tell you that quite so soon.” Noah could feel himself blushing madly.

“But that was something you wanted to tell me at some point?” Henry asked.

Noah sighed in relief. “Yes, absolutely.”

Henry made a face, obviously trying to hide a smile. “Cool.”

“Cool?”

Henry laughed again, “I’m just trying not to do something to embarrass myself.”

“Like?” Noah prompted, taking a measured step towards Henry.

“Like doing a happy dance,” Henry’s gaze slid from Noah’s eyes down to his lips. “Or just like grabbing you and—”

“Henry!” Ronan called, weaving through the crowd to where they were standing, Chainsaw at his feet. His pale Irish skin was flushed, and Noah could tell he was well on his way past tipsy, grinning like a fool. Noah couldn’t remember the last time he had seen his best friend drunk and _smiling_ ; it must have been long before Laurie’s passing. “Oh, good, you found Czerny. Czerny, why the hell didn’t you text Henry back?”

The reason for Ronan’s good mood showed up then, Adam’s sandy head peaking around Ronan’s bicep. “Oh my god, I leave you alone for two seconds. Sorry, guys. We’re leaving now.”

“It’s alright,” Henry said. During the interruption he had composed himself, but he was still standing close enough that Noah could smell the sandalwood in his cologne. “And it seems like there was a mix up in phone numbers,” he glanced at Noah, teasing.

“Oh,” Ronan said somberly. “Is it because of your brain thing?”

Noah laughed, the tension finally dissipating. “Yeah, because of my brain thing. Anyway,” Noah brushed his fingers against the back of Henry’s hand. He suddenly felt light enough he was afraid he was going to just float away. “What’s going on?”

Somehow, they were roped into a drinking game, the rules of which Noah could barely follow. He was also pretty sure that the press of Henry’s leg pressed against his was making Noah just as drunk as the alcohol was.

The game fizzled out just before midnight, Jordan cutting in to hand everyone plastic flutes of champagne. Noah took his flute and Henry’s hand, sneaking him out of the apartment and into the hallway.

“Should I be concerned that you’re trying to get me alone, Mr. Czerny?” Henry asked, bringing the champagne up to his lips for a sip.

Noah tugged him along down the hallway. “C’mon.” They got to a door at the end of the hallway. “Wait, you’re not afraid of heights, right?”

Henry looked at the door and then back at Noah. “No,” he was smiling brightly.

“Good.” Noah opened the door and led Henry up to the roof.

He and Ronan had spent quite a lot of time up here since he moved back to D.C., a quiet place for them to talk and get drunk away from Declan’s prying, and Jordan’s sympathetic, eyes.

It was cold up here, but Noah felt warm with Henry at his side, their fingers intertwined. They walked over to the edge of the roof, Noah putting down his flute on the ledge. He turned to Henry, his cheeks pink from the cold.

“Hi,” Henry said.

“Hi,” Noah breathed. “I’m really glad you came tonight,” he said at last. “Even though you thought I was ghosting you.”

Henry laughed, pulling Noah closer. “Just so you know, I’m not gonna believe that wrong number thing again. So you better get it right this time.”

“I will. I promise.”

Henry nodded perfunctorily, but a smile was threatening the corners of his mouth. “Good.”

“My answer is yes.”

“What?” Henry asked.

“When you texted me, you asked if I wanted to do something tomorrow. The answer is yes.”

“That was a week ago,” Henry replied coyly. “What if I’ve changed my mind since then?”

“You came up to the roof with me,” Noah gestured grandly to the rooftop. “I don’t think you changed your mind.” He tugged on Henry’s hand, the other man shuffling closer.

“I didn’t,” he replied quietly.

“So, would you like to go out with me tomorrow?” Noah asked. Henry nodded, the corners of his mouth pulling up into a smile. “Cool.”

“Cool?”

“I’m just trying not to do something to embarrass myself.”

Henry rolled his eyes and took another sip of his champagne. “God, I wish—”

There was a sudden clamor around them, cheers filtering out of windows and up towards them. Noah checked his watch, it was midnight.

“Shit,” Noah said. “I had a plan.”

“What?” Henry put his flute down.

“I had this whole plan, bringing you up here before midnight—” before Noah could embarrass himself further, Henry closed the distance between them and kissed him.

Noah wasn’t quite sure how long they were kissing before Henry pulled away, breathing out a laugh. “Was that your plan?” he asked.

“Uh huh,” Noah replied, glancing between Henry’s dark eyes and his pink lips. He leaned in again, slotting their mouths together in another kiss.

“Good plan,” Henry said between kisses.

“I know,” Noah leaned back, tracing a finger across Henry’s jaw. His eyes fluttered shut at the touch. “I should’ve done this a week ago,” he said, drawing invisible lines connecting the faint freckles across Henry’s cheeks.

“Mhm,” Henry agreed, his eyes slipping open. He smiled and caught Noah’s hand. “I’m cold.”

“Me too.”

Henry pressed one last chaste kiss to Noah’s lips. “Let’s go inside.”

Noah took grabbed his champagne and Henry’s hand, leading him off the roof and back down to Declan’s apartment. They were about to open the door when it swung open suddenly. Adam and Ronan stumbled out, hand-in-hand, laughing brightly. Ronan was holding Chainsaw’s leash, the puppy following after them into the hall.

“Whoops,” Ronan said, side stepping Noah and Henry a little clumsily. “Hi guys, what are you doing out here?”

Adam, who was much more sober and much more observant than his boyfriend, rolled his eyes. “What do you think they were doing?” he said to Ronan. “Sorry. Again,” he said to Noah and Henry.

“Are you guys leaving?”

“Yeah,” Adam struggled to zip his coat up with one hand. Noah wasn’t sure if he didn’t want to let go of Ronan’s hand or if it was Ronan who didn’t want to let Adam go. It made Noah grin even wider to see his friend so happy. “We need to get the baby home.”

“And Chainsaw,” Noah added.

Adam snorted out a laugh, Ronan’s face drew together in ire. “Et tu, Czerny?”

Noah reluctantly stepped away from Henry to wrap his friend in a hug. “Happy new year, Lynch.” Somehow Ronan hugged him back without letting go of Adam’s hand, it was honestly a little impressive. “I’m so happy for you,” he said lowly.

“I’m happy for you, too Czerny,” Ronan said loud enough for everyone to hear him.

Noah pulled back with a laugh, “thanks.” He turned to Adam. “You’ll get him home safe?”

Adam smiled brightly at him. “Yeah, we’re gonna walk.”

“Parrish can’t drive stick,” Ronan said somberly.

“Egads,” Noah deadpanned, Henry laughed behind him, tipping his forehead against Noah’s shoulder. Noah grabbed his hand again, feeling a little steadier.

“Alright, we should go,” Adam said through a laugh. “You two have a great night.”

They said their goodbyes, sending Adam, Ronan, and Chainsaw on their way. Henry squeezed his hand; Noah pulled his gaze away from their retreating figures. “Hey Noah?”

“Hm?”

“Happy new year,” he smiled over at Noah.

“Happy new year, Henry.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy new year!
> 
> One (1) person said they'd read a noah/henry continuation of The Christmas Fic, so I did it; it really is that simple. 
> 
> Comments/Kudos are always greatly appreciated ♥︎
> 
> You can find me [here.](https://andtimestoodstill.tumblr.com)


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